Board OKs subdivision sans trail

A trail planned to connect Spring Hill to Thompson's Station will have to be rerouted now that a subdivision's designs do not include a section of the path.

A trail planned to connect Spring Hill to Thompson’s Station will have to be rerouted now that a subdivision’s designs do not include a section of the path.

On Monday, the Spring Hill Planning Commission voted to approve an amended design for the final phase of Belshire subdivision, which no longer includes part of the planned McCutcheon Creek Greenway trail.

Original designs for the subdivision included a section of the trail that would go from Harvey Park to the Thompson’s Station border, but the subdivision’s developer asked the planning commission to take the trail out of the designs because he didn’t want to build it, commission member and Mayor Michael Dinwiddie said.

“If the property owner says he doesn’t want it, we don’t have the authority to force it on him,” Dinwiddie said.

The planning commission voted 3-to-1 in approval of the amended design.

Commission vice-chairman Jim Cichoraki voted against the design, saying the subdivision’s developer needs to understand that the greenway plan has been in place for years and that it would be a travesty to not have the trails.

The McCutcheon Creek Greenway trail has been in the works since at least 2006, when Spring Hill first applied for a grant to fund the project, Spring Hill Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Fischer said.

Spring Hill officials designed the trail because the city does not have enough paths for pedestrians, Fischer said. In October, the parks department released a master plan that recommends building at least 41 miles of trails and walkways over the next several years.

The greenway project will add at least two miles of trail from Harvey Park to Thompson’s Station and will connect to another trail Thompson’s Station plans to build, Fischer said. Part of the trail was to be built by the city, with other parts built by developers, he added.

However, planning commission chairman Jonathan Schwartz asked if the parks department had spoken with the developers before planning on having them pay for part of the trail.

“You say the trails are supposed to be there, but what have we done to negotiate with the landowners?” Schwartz said.

Dinwiddie said city officials can still ask the subdivision’s developer if he will allow them to build the trail, but the city cannot force a developer to build something that is not included in the city’s regulations.

Spring Hill’s subdivision regulations do not currently require developers to build trails, and the city cannot add the requirement if the city’s law doesn’t call for it, Dinwiddie said.

“The planning commission is strictly bound to what it can and cannot make decisions on. It’s a straight R2 zoned property with no requirements to have a walking trail on it,” Dinwiddie said.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen has already told the commission not to overstep its boundaries, Schwartz said, and requiring the developer to build the trail would have been an abuse of power.

“Why now are we asked to overstep our authority and force the developer to put something on the property that he doesn’t want there?” Schwartz said.

Now that Belshire will not include part of the trail, Fischer said the city will have to re-look at the project’s plans.

“It’s a hindrance to what we’re trying to accomplish,” Fischer said before the meeting.

Dinwiddie said the city can still build the McCutcheon Creek trail but will have to find a new way to build the section that would have gone through Belshire. Instead, the trail could be placed to the east of the subdivision property or connect to the sidewalks that the developer is required to build, he added.

“I don’t think it will do anything to the greenway plan except change the path of the walkway trail,” Dinwiddie said. “Some of the aldermen are saying now the plan is dead. That’s absolutely false.”

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